Q2: Public Consultation On The Medicinal Cannabis Draft Bill And Regulations

By not creating it in the first place.

If or when Bermuda allows the regulated cultivation of Marajuana, a Co-op should be formulated.

The regulatory powers are excessive. Why do they need to dictate which strains can be grown or how many plants can be grown within the approved space? Why is there no member on the board with any agricultural experience or cannabis experience? It's staffed by police, customs, a doctor and practically everyone who had previously fought against legal cannabis. You're proposing a board that will be paid, therefore those costs will be passed on to licensees increasing the eventual cost to the patient. It isn't known who will be allowed a medical card to use cannabis, so is it even viable? Why do you need to mandate what type of cupboard the cannabis can be stored in or that it needs to be disposed of after 4 months? The powers of the board are excessive and they don't appear to have the prerequisite experience in the cannabis industry to effectively oversee this industry.

I wish Bermuda would move into the 21st century and just legalize cannabis. Why must we take so long to do what’s right? Why wait another ten years? Other countries are so far ahead of us with regard to cannabis legislation. It annoys me to no end that we are still making criminals of mainly young black males for a plant that should have never been illegal in the first place. The racist history of criminalizing the cannabis plant alone should be enough to do away with this silly law. It’s a shame we so freely allow people to consume alcohol which not only causes people to act the fool and sometimes turn violent, but we’re quick to cry down individuals for smoking cannabis which mellows them out and makes them extremely hungry! The medicinal benefits alone should be enough. Bermuda could create a local hemp industry that exports so many different products all around the world. We would see a tourism boom if people were allowed to come here and smoke recreationally without fear of being prosecuted. I’m so sick of the ‘we need more research’ ‘we need to consult’ ‘we need to...’ blah, blah, blah. Old and tired. Stop locking people up! Just get on with it. Legalize it!